TWITTER, I'M IN A

I'm going to my old house
To sort and clean and sell
I just hope I won't get in a twitter
And whither away my time.

I start on the 1st project
Full of energy and glee
Then I forget what I was doing
And go on to 2 or 3.

By then I've had a dozen brainstorms
Zipped from A to Z
Sit down in exhaustion
Where did I put my list?

Some people tell you what they do on Twitter
But I tell you what I don't do when I twitter away my time

The Big Decision

Hello Everybody, I have been away from the computer for months and miss you all terribly!!! It has been a time of self-reflecting and decision-making. I have delved deep into my heart and tried to decide "What is really important to me in my life at this very moment?" The Answer?

The simple life.

My house and yard is too much for me to take care of, not to mention, far more space than I need or want.

So I have officially retired after almost 40 years working as a therapist and/or substance abuse counselor. I am selling my house and getting rid of most of my treasured possessions and/or hoarded "stuff" packed into 1250 sq ft. over a period of 33 years in the same place.

In the beginning I used the "George Carlin" method. I'd stuff all I could into my house until the walls bulged in pain. Then I'd sort, rearrange, put my stuff outside in the trash, go outside and get my stuff out of the trash, take it back into my stuffed house, AND THEN... go buy more storage containers so I can buy more stuff. Then my family attempted to "Clean Sweep" me every time I was hospitalized. I'd come home, my house would be neat and clean, and half of my stuff was gone. I'd search for things like a crazy woman, call and ask "where did you put my ________?" and be told Oh, "I threw that away." Then I'd get angry and pout until I'd realize that "it was just stuff and I didn't really need it or want it." As you know, if you've ever suffered the life of a pathological hoarder, letting go of your stuff is a process rather than an event. My letting go has been a series of events.

The 1st picture is my living room in prepration for the garage sale. The 2nd is the day of the garage sale AFTER THE SALE. Did I sell anything? Yes, but ALL THIS is still left. And I only emptied the kitchen and the attic. One day at a time, I tell myself.

I've battled to try to arrange the pictures, but I give up. You can tell which picture is which and I really want to post this tonight.

Going to Monroe tomorrow for a few days to get rid of more stuff and celebrate my son's 39th birthday. How'd he get so old when I am only 39? LOL

GLORIOUS DAYS

These past few days have just been so beautiful and magical. Even mundane tasks have taken on an aura of excitement. Life is good. Candace

Home, Sweet Home

I arrived back in Texas at Pam's house on Sunday. I really understand that phrase so much better now. When I am HERE I feel safe, secure, loved, serene, and protected. A sister's love is so special. You can be honest and not get attacked; You can be silly and not put down; You can be real and not feel inferior. It's a place I can just be me and not need to be more, or better, or different. Just me is just right.

Dear Friends, I am returning to Monroe today for a week or so to begin sorting out 32 years of stuff to prepare to sell my house. God has blessed me so much by being able to stay with Pam these past 3 months. Our friendship has blossomed into something really beautiful. I am so grateful she has introduced me to you guys and I have learned how to blog. Keep up your creative energies. Candace

Raven's Saturday Wordzzle # 58

This is week 58 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I had a hard time again this week. Guess it isn't the words.... maybe it's my brain. Agggh. Thanks again to Quilly for supplying this week's words.
The words for this week's ten word challenge were: acrobat; grocery store; ceiling fan; dandelion; bumble bee; alabaster; scissors; chartreuse; strenuously; cube Mini Challenge: iPod; poison ivy; computer; interpreter; optometrist





Alonzo's Salvation Part 3


Dr. Vance walked into the smokey tavern and nodded to two gentlemen sitting at the door. He scanned the bar for the victim's wife but she was no where to be found. He asked the bartender if he had seen the Mrs. The bartender gestured to a small booth in the back. Vance approached the alabaster booth. A ceiling fan moved strenuously over the table top. He saw a small cigar in the ash tray. Oddly the cigar had bright red lipstick on the filter. He knew this was the brand that the Mrs. smoked and he caught a faint whiff of the perfume she was famous for wearing. She purchased it at the grocery store on the corner. He knew it was named Dandelion because his wife often wore it too. Where could she have gone?

Alonzo boarded the Concorde carrying only a black brief case. He settled in to First Class and began reading a magazine. An ad for Acrobat & Bumble Bee caught his eye. In a cube shaped advertisement he saw the sail boat of his dream. He took out a pair of scissors and gently cut out the ad. He opened the brief case, laid the ad on top of the money, and quickly closed and locked the case.

As he walked into LAX, he looked for a concierge. He saw a young man with an iPod to his ear. The song "Poison Ivy" blared from the side of the ear buds. Alonzo asked the young man who was typing on the computer if he could call him an interpreter. Alonzo needed to call his optometrist and he did not speak a word of German. Alonzo completed his call and walked into the cool night air. A chartreuse Porshe 911 Carrera S Coup pulled up to the curb and Alonzo got in. The doorman watched the Porshe drive south. He noticed a dainty hand flick ashes from a tiny cigar. The filter had an imprint of bright red lipstick. To be continued or Not

Nursery Rhymes and Other Horror stories

It's another late night and I can't sleep, but who needs sleep anyway? It's almost a full moon and the wind is blowing the clouds so fast that the moon is playing peek-a-boo with me. That's what my head feels like, peek-a-boo with thoughts, memories, and regrets. What ever happened to that little girl who was three and saw the world through rose colored glasses, believed in the Easter Bunny, and thought the world was fair? As I played on the swing set in our back yard, I wanted to be a trapeze artist, a nurse, or a cowboy. I never did those things in real life, only in my imagination. Now I'm too old to fly through the air, go back to school, or learn to ride a horse and shoot Indians. I don't mean any of this to be politically incorrect, you know. Remember "Bang, Bang, you're dead?" And you'd fall down and pretend to die. Then we'd ALL fall down and die laughing, throw down our stick guns and bows, and go play Red Rover. What an inhumane game to teach a child. You divide up in to two teams, wait to be called over by the other team, and then have to break the chain of hands to be accepted. Talk about rejection on top of rejection. Well, I've had my pity party and appreciate a sounding board and anyone who was kind enough to read my rantings.

Thank goodness that my grown-up God is merciful and gives me love and grace for all my thoughts and actions. I'm not sure I'd want fairness from God to me, I much prefer mercy versus justice. My God is a good ole Gal. Y'all come back now. Candace

Gratitude

I am still so new to this blogging world and never quiet know what to say, but I thank all of you for your kind words of encouragement. I am a very private person and don't trust too many people. It's difficult to be intimate with strangers, yet I am beginning to know you by reading your posts and to make a simple comment. Then y'all will be friends and not strangers.

When I first came to visit Pam, I was in pretty bad shape mentally, emotionally, an over all mess. I didn't plan on staying very long, but I have been here for 5 weeks and I feel fantastic. We laugh and play like silly teenagers. Her husband tells us to grow up and we laugh even harder. We ride the Rhino (4 wheel drive sport vehicle) every day to kick up our endorphins. Yesterday we saw 3 does running out of the woods. They were so full of life and energy. Their fluffy white tails bobbing in the wind. Staying with my sister, Pam, for five weeks has awakened a part of me that had been long dead and forgotten. People are not meant to live alone and isolate. I am so blessed to have a sister like Pam and her kind hubby who says I can stay as long as I want to. Life is blessed. Candace

Alonzo's Salvation Part 2

This is week 57 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Besides the fact that I had some unexpected company, my brain is having a hard time coming up with even a bad idea for how to use this week's words. Next week, we can all thank Quilly, who generously supplied me with 15 words for us to work with. Yippee! Boy... I thought this week's words were REALLY hard... even harder than last week's and I thought last week's were pretty terrible. I didn't think I was going to come up with something but in the end I did... Whew!
Views from Raven's Nest














Ten Word Challenge will be: apoplexy, doctor, hummingbird, shallow end of the pool, brigadier general, mustard, greed, parallelogram, slumber party, casual

Alonzo's Salvation Part 2

The housekeeper dialed 911. "He's dead! He's dead. Hurry." Cordillia, the housekeeper ran around frantically waiting for the police to arrive. She cleaned up a mustard stain on the white granite counter left from the twins' St. Patricks' Eve slumber party the night before. She refilled the hummingbird feeder and hurriedly hung it outside by the kitchen door. She screamed when the coroner walked up behind her and said "Excuse me, ma'am, are you Cordillia?" "You scared me to death, sneaking up on me and all. Especially with what has just happened." "I'm sorry ma'am, where can we talk?" Cordillia led him in to the casual den and offered him a chair. "I am Dr. Vance with the Coroner's office. Tell me what happened."

"I spent the night here last night because the twins were having a slumber party and the Mrs. was out of town with her sister. The Mrs. doesn't take to all the music and laughter when the girls have company, so I usually stay and chaperon while the Mrs. goes out of town. When I got up at 6:30 A.M. to fix the Misters' breakfast the house was quiet. No one was up yet. I opened the drapes to the pool and that's when I saw him. There he was lying face down in the shallow end of the pool. All dead like and bloody! Oh my God, how will I ever tell the Mrs." Dr. Vance said "Don't worry miss, the police will contact his wife. Due to the nature of this case, it will require the utmost security. After all, he was a Brigadier General in the armed services. Everything will be classified."

The Chief of Police entered the room and asked the doctor to step outside. Dr. Vance informed the Chief of Police that based on a preliminary exam, the victim had probably died from Apoplexy. Cause of death won't be determined until after the autopsy.

There was a knock at the door. Cordillia answered it. "Ma'am, I need to speak to the Chief of Police. The two men went out the front door and whispered "Sir, I found something really strange at the murder scene. It was a parallelogram drawn in blood with the word GREED written in the center. What do you make of that?"

Meanwhile, the Mrs. prepared herself to meet Mr. Alonzo at the Poets Corner Tavern at 9:45 P.M. She had no difficulty getting the $1.75 million. The money was packed safely in the locked brief case. What was giving her difficulty was the thought of handing over the money to Mr. Alonzo knowing that she would never know the truth about what happened to her husband.
She realized not knowing was her protection, but her obsessive personality desperately needed to know what happened. Alonzo walked in to the Tavern at exactly 9:45 P.M. He picked up the brief case and quickly left the Tavern and hailed a cab. "JFK airport." Alonzo said. As the cab pulled off, Alonzo saw the Chief of Police get out of his patrol car and enter the Tavern. The Chief of Police saw no sign of the victim's wife. In an instant she was gone.



Mini Challenge: Mount Olympus, arsonist, portraits, birch trees, "that car needs a new muffler"

Alonzo's Salvation

This is week 56 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Oh my, oh my, oh my.... previous complaints about my choice of words pale in the face of this week's ten world challenge. What was I thinking? Where did these horrific words come from? Why, Lord, why did I pick them? I beg forgiveness from all of you who have had the courage to participate this week. It's one of those weeks when I wish I wasn't hosting because I could tip-toe quietly out of the room and skip the challenge.... BUT.... AGGGGGGGH! I HAVE to do it! Anyone want to volunteer some words for future weeks? Then I can be mad at someone else instead of myself.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: partition, imagination, salvation, mirror image, green power, highway, roasting marshmallows, serial killer, autograph, cartography. Mini Challenge: cell phone, Big Mac, panther, legendary, poets corner










Alonso' Salvation




It was the Ides of March, 1988. Alonzo woke up late as usual. He could hear the melodious tones of the wind chime hanging behind the partition which separated his sleeping quarters from his office. He hit the snooze for just seven more minutes of glorious sleep. As he lay there in a twilight state, he allowed his imagination to soar. Late last night a dark haired, mysterious woman entered his office and pleaded for him to take her case. He played hard to get, even though he knew this case could be his detective agency's salvation. Man, did he need this case to solve his financial difficulties. Alonzo was much to prideful to accept her case without a fight. He continued to act nonchalant and uncommitted. He half heartedly listened to the horrendous details as he opened and sorted his mail. He even perused the 1960 issue of Cartography for the Novice.

"Mr. Alonzo, let me get to the point. My husband is a serial killer! He has also been diagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenic and Border-Line Personality Disorder. He is not an easy man to live with but he is a very, very wealthy old man." She crossed her legs and adjusted her revealing mini-skirt and smiled seductively at Alonzo. He ignored her and pretended to be engrossed in a thin boy across the street operating a green power washer to blast the paint off a dilapidated brick wall.

"Ahem, to continue with my story" she said curtly due to his inattention and obvious boredom of her plight. "Last weekend we were driving down Highway 01. He suddenly pulled the Benz over and said he wanted to roast marshmallows for me before I was gone. I laughingly said I wasn't going any where. He said that I was mistaken. That I would be murdered on St. Patricks' Day."

"He leaned in closer and stated that the voices in his head tell him to take a hostage on the eve of St. Patricks' Day and to offer her up as a sacrifice to the wee little leprechauns. He said that he has followed the voices demand for the last twelve years. I have just one more sacrifice and I will be exonerated." He coldly looked her in the face and said "You are my next and last victim. You are the mirror image of my twelve victims. After the Leprechauns sacrifice you, I will be able to autograph the contract and end the curse of the St. Patricks' Day serial killer."

I said in disbelief, "You've got to be out of your f****** mind. He just laughed, kissed me on the forehead and said Happy St. Patricks' Day sweetheart."

"So you see, Mr. Alonzo, I don't have much time. Can you help me?"

"Yes mam, I have a plan." Alonzo pulled out his cell phone, asked to speak to Big Mac, who was the legendary leader of the Purple Panthers located in the warehouse right next to the Poets Corner Tavern. Alonzo walked out of the room, whispering to Mr. Big Mac. He spoke so quietly that his client could not hear what his plan entailed.

When Alonzo came back into his office, he said "It has been taken care of. You have nothing to worry about. Go home and act like this was all a big joke. Meet me at Poets Corner Tavern at 9:45 P.M. on St. Patricks' Day. Bring a brief case with $1.75 million and we will be even."

"But what is your plan? How are you going to protect me? What are you going to do to my husband?" Alonzo smiled smugly and quickly left the room. She could hear him saying "If I tell you any more, then I would have to kill you. That would defeat your purpose." Alonzo glanced back at her and said "Trust me!" and then he left her sitting alone in his office looking confused and bewildered. To be continued......

Alonzo's Addiction

This is week 55 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I thought these words were very difficult but once I got started I had kind of a good time with them. Still, I think I need to come up with a new system... or maybe therapy for my muse who seems to go a bit nuts when she spews out the new words every week. Anyway, looking forward to reading every one's offerings.
The words for this week's ten word challenge were: humanity, shadow, ricochet, wrong, pluralism, mathematics, person-hood, printing press, ink spot, choral society Mini Challenge: kingdom, take names, best seller, three times, inner demons




Alonzo woke up late that day after an overdose on chocolate the night before. He swore beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would never eat the whole box of chocolates again. His head was aching. He felt shooting pains ricochet through all the wrong parts of his body. He questioned his own humanity and why he continued to engage in self-destructive behavior.

"Why, oh why do I do this to myself when I know I'll feel like my head is being crushed by a very large printing press. I see whirling ink spots in front of my eyes. Oh, my very person-hood is being tested."

Alonzo thought back over the repeated times he had had a chocolate hangover. He prided himself on being open minded, even obsessively pluralistic. He never chided his friends who were alcoholics or drug addicts. "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Right?" As he did his mathematics to figure out this problem, the number of chocolate hangovers grew to unfathomable statistics. He knew he had to do something to put an end to his insane behavior. He wondered what in the world could produce the same effects of euphoria as chocolate.

He had seen a notice of a meeting of Chocolates Anonymous in the Sunday paper. He called his friend Willie Y. who suffered from the exact same affliction. Willie Y. agreed to meet him at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. The ladies of the Choral Society were meeting at the same place same time. As Alonzo walked past the group of lovely ladies singing their hearts out for God, he stopped dead in his tracks. Up in the choir loft in the very last row, he spotted a gorgeous yellow pussy cat with a tale nearly as grand as his. His eyes popped as he saw what she held in her hands. Instead of the bright red hymnal, she held a very large box of his very most favorite chocolates. It was love at first sight.

Alonzo coyly slipped into the choir loft and wooed the young yellow pussy cat into the stairwell.
After feeding each other chocolates until their bellies were full and the box empty, they left to go get a cup of coffee. Alonzo heard someone call his name. He turned around and there was Willie Y. with his hands on his hips. "What happened to you man?" Willie Y. asked.

"Well......(he hemmed and hawed)...I went around the block three times trying to find this damn church, and, uh, I came upon a grand Kingdom Hall where they were taking names and checking 'em twice, they were even giving out extra points if you had seen the best seller Chocolate."

Willie Y. just shook his head and walked away. He knew that Alonzo's inner demons had gotten the best of him. Who can resist a yellow pussy cat with a box of chocolates? Meowwww!

My crazy world has actually been serene for the past 2 weeks that I've been staying with my sister, Pam, in Panola, Texas. I may stay a little longer. We've had fun hanging pictures, planting bulbs, riding the Rhino and taking pictures. I am grateful that she has introduced me to the blogging world and hope to learn how to access other bloggers. Candace

Today was an interesting day. Night owl self did not sleep but 50 minutes last night, so I was a little restless, silly, and giggly. I kept Pam in stitches with my fondness of odd items and their degree of cuteness. I found three silver cylinders on the kitchen table. They are so cute,

heavy, and cold. No one knows what they are or how they got there. Do you know what they are? Maybe something off a John Deere tractor? See Pam's blog.

I had accupuncture for the first time today and I feel wonderful. Hopefully I will sleep tonight after the needle in my head. Good night bloggers. I'm off to write a wordzzle,

In The Beginning....

Hi, My name is Candace but every one calls me Candy. I am soon to be 62 years of age and live in Louisiana. I have worked as a counselor/therapist for almost 40 years. I have recently retired with out the financial benefits of retirement. My 2 grand children are the passion in my life. Patrick is almost four and Gracie just turned one.

I entered my 1st worddrizzle this weekend and loved it. The feed back from others was wonderful. So I decided to start blogging. Hope to make you a blog friend. I look forward to hearing from you.